Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s are misleading consumers over "special
offers" that aren't deals at all, an investigation has found

Supermarkets are continuing to mislead customers over their "special offers", according to an investigation by consumer campaign group Which?

Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s have been found to discount products and leave them at a lower price for a far longer period than they were at the original price.

This practice breaches Department of Business guidelines, which were drawn up to stop retailers misleading shoppers over discounts and promotions.

Examples of misleading pricing included Asda increasing the price of a Chicago Town Four Cheese Pizza Two-Pack from £1.50 to £2 as it went into an offer where you could buy two for £3. It went back to £1.50 as the ‘offer’ ended.

The probe comes less than a week before a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary airs, which will investigate some of the tactics used by the major supermarkets to lure shoppers back from Aldi and Lidl.

Earlier this week Tesco chief Phil Clarke was forced out after the supermarket giant's price cuts had failed to reverse falling sales.

Sainsbury’s sold Carex Anti-Bacterial Handwash for 10 days at the higher price of £1.60, and then as "was £1.60 now £1" for 28 days.

In Scotland, Tesco sold 4 bottles of Budweiser as ‘was £4.50 now £4’ for 21 days. It was sold at the higher price for 15 days, 41 days before the offer started.

Which? said these tactics need to be stamped out because eight out of ten people say they look out for offers in supermarkets, with most saying these deals help them to make the most of their budget.

Alex Neill, head of campaigns at Which?, said: “We've continued to find dodgy deals across the aisles, with prices in supermarkets yo-yoing between multibuys and discounts so that it is almost impossible to know the actual price. We want special offers to be special and are campaigning for simpler, clearer and fairer pricing rules and tougher enforcement action."

The Department of Business drew up its Pricing Practices Guide in 2010 with specific advice given to retailers on how to avoid misleading consumers on price including, among other things, special promotions.

One of the guiding principles is that “special offers” should not run for a longer period of time than the original price.

Asda said: “‘We would never deliberately mislead our customers”. Sainsbury’s said the handwash was “mistakenly priced”.

Tesco said: “We apologise for this labelling error, and have since introduced new systems to prevent it happening again.”